Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Las Vegas lawyer disbarred by Nevada Supreme Court

CARSON CITY — A Las Vegas lawyer who misappropriated $233,000 to help her husband’s failing business has been disbarred by the Nevada Supreme Court.

The court said there was “clear and convincing evidence” to warrant the removal of Jeanne Winkler from practicing law in Nevada. She was also found guilty of misconduct in breaking the rules in borrowing $115,000 from a client.

The court said Winkler’s troubles began when her husband, Michael Metzger, suffered a $350,000 employee embezzlement from his Keep Direct Electric business.

Trying to keep the electrical business afloat, she took the $230,000 from client accounts and invested with her own money in a venture that yielded nothing.

She told the Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board the money was put in a government program that financed humanitarian efforts in the world and was based, in part, on World War I bonds and water rights around Hoover Dam.

It was then she borrowed the $115,000 from her client Debra Hood in violation of bar rules.

Winkler was suspended in 2008 pending the final decision on her case.

The court found there was insufficient evidence to find that Winkler, while on suspension, had represented clients before the state Department of Motor Vehicles and had also misappropriated money from a widow with three children.

Prior to this, she had no disciplinary actions against her.

In another disciplinary action, the court suspended Las Vegas attorney James Sitter for four years dating back to March 2009 when he was first suspended.

The court said Sitter on six to seven occasions invaded his trust account removing money that should have been provided to his clients directly or to individuals that had liens for services provided to the clients.

The Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board had recommended a two-year suspension because Sitter accepted responsibility for his actions and he had resolved all of the ethical violations and paid all third-party lienholders.

But the Supreme Court raised it to four years because Sitter admitted he misappropriated funds from five different clients. He has been disciplined before for mishandling clients’ money and violating the rules on safekeeping of the money of clients.

Before he can be re-admitted to practice, he must take a course on trust account management and pass the multi-state professional responsibility examination.

The court also transferred the case of a Las Vegas lawyer to the Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board for possible recommendations for a penalty.

James Parsa pleaded guilty in Orange County, Calif., to two misdemeanor counts of unlawful sexual intercourse. He resigned from the California bar but never informed Nevada officials.

The Supreme Court said Parsa’s conviction was not for minor offenses and he “had a duty to inform Nevada bar counsel of his resignation from the California bar with disciplinary charges pending.”

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